Beet-harvester.



0. BARTHIOLOMEW.

BEET HARVESTER.

APPLICATION FILED SEPT. 22, 1914.

Patented Mar. 16, 1915.

2 SHEBTE$-$HEET I.

THE NORRIS PETERS c -L!'ri-m.v WASHINGTON, D, C.

0. 11. BARTHOLOMEW. BBET HARVESTER.

APPLIOATION FILED SEP'IHZZ, 1914.

1,132,149. Patented Mar. 16, 1915.

2 SHEETSSHEET 2.

I'HE NORRIS PETERS 60.. PHOTO-LITHQ. WASHINGTON, D c,

UNITED STATES PATENT FETCE.

OHMER H. I BARTHOLOMEW, 0F BEARDSTOWN, ILLINOIS.

BEET-HARVESTER.

Patented Mar. 16, 1915.

Original application filed February 3, 1914, Serial No. 816,218. Divided. and this application filed September 22, 1914. Serial No. 862,989.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, OHMER H. BARTHOLO- MEW, citizen of the United States, residing at Bearclstown, in the county of Cass and State of Illinois, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Beet-Harvesters, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to beet harvesters and has special reference to the means for removing the beet tops from the roots or bodies, the present application being a division of an application filed by me February 3, 1914, Serial No. 816,218.

The objects of the present invention are to provide novel means whereby, as the machine is drawn along a row of plants, the beet tops will be positively removed and deposited on the ground at one side of the row.

Other incidental objects of the invention will appear as the description of the same proceeds. The invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawings and consists in certain novel features hereinafter first fully described and then particularly set forth in the claims.

In the drawings, Figure 1 is a side elevation, partly in section, of a portion of a beet-harvester embodying my present invention. Fig. 2 is a vertical longitudinal section of the same, Fig. 3 is a perspective View of the cutting mechanism and the parts immediately adjacent thereto, Fig. 4 is a plan view of the same, Fig. 5 is a detail plan view of a part of the driving mechanism.

The main frame of the machine may be of any suitable construction and is supported upon ground wheels 1 and 2, the rear'wheels 2 being connected by suitable gearing (not shown) with a sprocket chain 13 through which motion is imparted to the several operating mechanisms. The said chain 13 asses around a sprocket wheel 14 fixed on a shaft 15 which is journaled in the side bars 16 constituting the elevator frame. The sprocket wheel 14 directly engages and drives the wheel 20 on the shaft 19 which constitutes part of the gearing whereby the elevator, indicated at 28, is operated. The shaft 15 also carries a bevel gear 17 and a sprocket wheel 18.

The bevel gear wheel 17 meshes with a bevel pinion 31 fixed upon the rear end of a shaft which is journaled in suitable bearings carried by the side-bars 16 and a frame 33 connected to and projecting forwardly from the said side-bars. The said shaft 32 extends forwardly beyond the end of the frame 33 and is constructed with a universal joint 34 so that its rear portion may be arranged to clear the mechanism immediately adjacent thereto and at the same time be brought close to the frame 33 and then extended longitudinally forward so as to actuate the cutter 35. The front end of the shaft 32 is equipped with a crank-disk 36 and a sprocket wheel 37, the pin 38 of the crankdisk playing in a slot 39 formed in the head 40 of the cutter so that, as the shaft rotates, the cutter-bar 41 will be reciprocated and the tops of the beets thereby severed from the beet bodies. The sprocket-wheel 37 is disposed in rear of the crank disk 36 and a chain or conveyer 42 is carried by the said sprocket-wheel and a similar wheel 43 at the opposite side of the frame so that said chain or conveyer will be caused to travel transversely of the machine as it is drawn forward and the tops, falling from the cutter, will be caught and carried to one side of the machine and deposited upon the ground in a row between the rows of plants or at one side of the row of plants which is being harvested and, consequently, will not be gathered with the beet bodies.

The cutter and conveyer 42 are mounted upon a supplemental frame 44 which is pivotally attached to the frame 33 at points substantially coincident with the universal joints 34 so that the vertical movement of the said frame 44 relative to the frame 33 will not tend to bend or break the shaft 32. The conveyer chain 42 is equipped with blades 42 at intervals so that the beet tops will be positively engaged and carried to one side. To prevent the tops passing over and dropping behind the chain, 1 provide a shield or guard consisting of a plate having a lower portion 100 secured to and extending between the sides of the frame 44 under the upper run of the chain and a back 101 rising from the edge of the lower portion in rear of the chain. The supplemental frame 44 is constructed with a cross-bar 45 from which rises a screw 46 which passes through a suitable opening in the front cross bar 47 of the said frame 33. Above the said cross bar 47 Va hand-wheel or similar adjusting device 48 is mounted upon the screw 46, and it will be readily seen that by turning the said handwheel in one or the other direction the screw will be caused to move upwardly or downwardly through the cross-bar 47 and thereby adjust the cutter and the beet top conveyer vertically so as to bring the cutter into the proper position to sever all the tops in the row. To hold the hand-Wheel in the position to which it may be adjusted, a latch 49 is conveniently mounted upon the frame 33. and adapted to engage one of a series of openings 50 formed in the hand-wheel.

The frame 33 is secured at its rear end to the side bars 16 and may be adjusted vertically by means of suitable'devices on the main frame acting on the rack bar 52. The uprooting members are carried by said frame 33 and comprise aseries of prongs 61 extending downwardly and forwardly to enter the ground and pass under the beet bodies so as to force them up and to the rear. To the outer sides of the frame 33, in advance of the prongs 61 are secured the in active prongs or guard fingers 63 which pass through the ground in advance of the uprooting prongs and loosen the soil at the sides of the beets. Levers 64 are pivotally supported adjacent the sides of the frame 33 and connected by a rod 65 at their front ends. Links 66 connect said rod with heads 67 which, in turn, have link connections with the respectively adjacent prongs. Pitmen 72 connect the levers 64 with the cranks 73 on the ends of a shaft 74 suitably mounted in the frame 33 and equipped with a sprocket wheel 76 at its center, a sprocket chain 77 being trained around said wheel and a similar wheel 78' carried by a shaft 7 9 also mounted on the frame 33. The chain 77 is equipped with blades 81 which engage the uprooted beet bodies and push them onto the elevator 28 by which they are delivered at the rear of the machine. The shaft 79 is equipped atone end with a sprocket wheel 82 around which and the sprocket 18 is trained a chain 83 so that all the operating parts are driven from the shaft 15.

Having thus described the invention, what is claimed as new is 1 1. The combination of a main frame, a supplemental frame pivoted at its rear ends to the sides of the main frame and projecting forwardly beyond the same, a cutter carried by the front end of the supplemental frame, a conveyer carried by said frame in rear of the cutter, means connected to the supplemental frame and engaging the main frame whereby the supplemental frame may be moved in a vertical plane about its piv otal connection to the main frame, actuating mechanism on the main frame, and a shaft a horizontal plate secured to the frame and extending across the same adjacent the con veyer, and a vertical plate rising from the horizontal plate in rear of the conveyor.

In testlmony whereof I affix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

Witnesses:

J. F. J ours, LULA DUNN'.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents,

Washington, D. 0."

OHMER H. BARTHOLOMEW. [Ls-1* 

